Author: Loren

A Light Introduction

::Wednesday, May 15, 2002::

:: A Light Introduction ::

What follows is not a review of The Unbearable Lightness of Being. It is, rather, an exploration of some of the ideas Kundera develops in his novel. If you plan on reading the novel, and I personally recommend it , it’s best to go away for a few days and come back later to see if my perception of the novel matches your perceptions. It’s impossible to discuss themes without revealing plot details that may well interfere with you enjoyment of the novel.

Surprisingly enough, despite the fact that Milan Kundera’s The Unbearable Lightness of Being begins with a quotation from Nietzsche, despite the fact that it often reads more like a philosophy lecture than a novel, and despite the fact that the author states on page 39 that “It would be senseless for the author to try to convince the reader that his characters once actually lived,” I ended up very much enjoying this “novel of ideas,” as Newsweek reviewer Jim Miller calls it.

Maybe I liked it so much because it reminds me in one way or another of some of my favorite books .

It reminded me of Faulkner’s classic The Sound and The Fury because it emphasizes multiple perspectives and the reader, like the characters in the novel, are never quite sure how to view any single event that takes place in the novel.

It reminded me of Camus’ The Stranger, where events happen to characters without they, or the reader, having the slightest idea why the events have happened.

It reminded me of Heller’s Catch-22 where everything seems to be a Catch-22 and nothing every turns out quite the way you expect it to.

Most of all, though, I liked it because it was so different from any novel I have ever read. I still don’t know if I’ve read a novel or a philosophy text, but I don’t really care too much because it kept me interested and it kept me thinking. Despite Rageboy’s rant, looking for “the truth,” even if you never find it, can be fun.

Diane and I’ll will try to tell you what we’re thinking in the next few days. Hopefully it will have something to do with what Kundera thinks, though I can’t necessarily guarantee that. At least you can rest assured that "Diane" and "Loren" are not invented characters; we are, at least temporarily, “real” people who are trying to make sense out of a world that probably was never meant to make sense.

Ride the Wave

Busy avoiding writing anything while I’m finishing The Unbearable Lightness of Being and trying to make heads or tales out of it.

Interesting novel? philosophy lecture?

Going to go over notes with Diane tomorrow. Should have something right after that, or not.

Decided not to RANT over the Bush Administration environmental policies, or lack thereof. Could have. Easily. Sure I will later.

Smart People Don’t Let their Government Do Dumb Things

… at least without RANTING about it.

I know, I’ve been told this is a “literary blog,” and I tend to like that designation, and according to Jeff Ward, there’s little purpose in writing about politics. But Jeff also recently quoted an ex-teacher as saying that English majors are supposed to be smarter than other people, and, having graduated as an English major, I’m certainly in no position to disagree with that kind of remarkable insight.

It seems to me that someone smarter than the President of the United States and the Republican party, and I’m not sure you would have to graduate as an English major to qualify here, needs to get involved in politics when the government makes dumb decisions like the ones reported in this CNN article as pointed out by Kalilily.

The American government, though it is still unwilling to ratify the convention, has managed to impose its unenlightened and immoral standards on the world.

On one hand, the American government opposed the agreement because it banned imposing the death penalty or a life sentence on children under the age of eighteen, and God forbid that true Christians should have to give up their death penalty.

More importantly, though, the convention attempted to ensure that adolescents “have the right to sex education and reproductive and sexual health services.”

According to the article, “Conservatives in the United States contend that ‘reproductive health services’ include abortion. U.S. officials had pressed for a footnote to the document specifically excluding abortion. This was not done, but the final agreement dropped any reference to ‘services.’ “

Following in the noble tradition of the Kyoto treaty, America appears to be the lone holdout in not signing the treaty, as even Somalia, the other holdout, is expected to ratify the treaty this week.

In their infinite wisdom, the Conservatives seem to be saying that no child, fatherless or not, should be denied the chance for life, but if the little bastard screws up we’ll dispose of him as soon as possible. Such high regard for the “sanctity of life” should not go unnoticed or unrewarded.

What really “pisses me off” (that’s an intellectual term connoting great disdain) is that the Republicans know better than to try to impose this kind of stupidity on the American people. If they tried they would be voted out of office in a landslide. Why, then, should the rest of the world have this kind of stupidity imposed on them?

Why should American voters who would not allow this to happen in America allow Conservatives in the government to impose their will on the rest of the world?

The only intelligent thing for we English majors, and anyone else who would like to be regarded as a little “smarter than the rest,” to do is to vote these people out. It’s time to show The Conservatives that it’s hard to hide behind a shrub.